Rehoboth

With summer fast approaching, I always start thinking of the beach. Growing up in Delaware for me that means Rehoboth Beach. Rehoboth has always been a part of my life from the time I was a small child right up to when I moved away. It was close to little old Laurel but it seemed like a different world. Back when I was a little guy, the drive to "the beach" was a pretty boring ride. Route 24, the way we would always go, was not built up like it is now. My sister Kimberly and I would share the backseat while my parents sat up front. These trips were almost always on a Sunday afternoon after church and we always knew our first stop would be to The Avenue Restaurant. Why our parents enjoyed this place is a mystery to my sister and me even to this day. Kim and I thought this was the most boring and stuffy place ever! We would always beg to be allowed to order off the adult menu and my Dad's answer was always the same, NO! They had one of the most bland kids menus that we had ever seen. So much so that I to this day don't remember one thing that I ever got to eat there. But we were quiet about it for the most part because we knew what would happen AFTER dinner. We would leave the restaurant, get in the car and ride down to Rehoboth Avenue and circle there five or six times until we found someone backing out of a parking spot. After getting a place to park mom and pop would start looking for quarters to feed the parking meter and me and my sis would get out and start taking in the smells of the beach. That wonderful salty air mixed with the aromas that made up Rehoboth. Thrashers fries cooking on one side. Dolles popcorn and taffy on the other. Grotto pizza back when they had just the one store right there on the avenue. Usually what would happen is my parents would sit on one of those old benches that were on the boardwalk looking out over the beach and my sister and I would be given a half hour or so to take over shoes and socks of and run around on the beach. "Don't get wet" was always hollered to us as we ripped our shoes off but we always managed to get to close to the water and "get wet". After being told to come on, the meters getting low, we would grab our shoes and usually head over to Dolles for a box of taffy and a couple boxes of Carmel popcorn to eat on the way home. That scene was repeated three or four times over the summer months. Occasionally we would ride down in the winter to have Grotto's pizza. The rest of the town would be pretty much shut down awaiting the return of warm days and tourists on vacation. Fast forward about ten years to me getting my drivers license. I still had a soft spot for Rehoboth and would ride down quite often with friends to just hang out and chill. I also discovered there was another part of the beach down to the right of Rehoboth avenue. Funland rides and games! I'm sure my parents did all they could to avoid that part so they didn't have to hear us begging for yet something else! That was cool but we also discovered another place beside Funland, Ryans gems and junk! They had tons of cool stuff. It became a tradition of sorts to get a beach shirt while there to remember whatever the reason we were there which usually involved skipping school, some kind of big party at the beach, or so and so's birthday. Ryans had hundreds of decals hanging from the ceiling and on the walls that you could get ironed on to any style shirt they sold. The really cool one's were long sleeved and you could also add a sleeve iron- on like Rehoboth Beach or a design of some sort. And it was always customary to add your name to the back. One shirt I had said breeze ( a old nickname from school ) and my favorite one that simply said "Me" on the back. Another fav was when a big group of us all got the same shirt that had a college logo on the front that said "Drunken State". Me and the crew thought we were soooo cool walking the boardwalk with our Vans on our feet and our Jams shorts that went down past our knees on. Vans live on today. The Jams unfortunately went out with the 80's. But that's okay. I still have my favorite pair that I owned and I know one day I'll be able to wear them again (maybe) haha. We were young and we were cool, or so we thought. Summer lasted forever back then and we were pretty much carefree. No matter what was going on with our lives Rehoboth was able to offer escape, at least while we were there. I went back there for the first time in years a couple of summers ago and I hardly recognized the place. The roads were expanded. Outlet malls stood where open space used to be. Getting to the beach was a torturous effort. It seems that like me and my friends who used to hang out there, Rehoboth Beach has grown up.

Reading

Thank goodness my parents instilled a love of reading in me when I was a kid. As far back as I remember I have always loved to read. Mom got us all library cards and would take us there on a regular basis to check out books. Didn't matter what I was reading as long as I was reading something. A book, a newspaper, a comic book, anything! I even had the habit of having something at the table to read when I was eating. Car trips for me were spent with my nose in a book, oblivious to my surroundings, which by the way, always seemed to drive my parents crazy. "Put that book down and look around, ya might never get back here again" was always a favorite line they would spout off. I would sigh, look up for a few minutes, then go back to my book. All this got me to thinking the other day about all the magazine subscriptions we had when I was growing up. Mom had her magazines like Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens and the Ladies Home Journal. Dad had his National Geographic and Flying magazine. The Readers Digest was shared by both. And it was funny with the magazines. I always thought Dads National Geographic magazine was boring. The articles on all the foreign countries held little interest to me. The Flying magazine was basically the same thing each month with a different cover. It always showed some type of airplane in flight with the pilot looking up toward the camera. But strangely, my moms mags provided fascinating reading for me! They almost always had a article about a family member getting sick or being struck with some type of personal tragedy and how the mother rallied at the end to save the family. I read with interest the different cooking methods being discussed and the recipes being shown. I was captivated by the flowers being planted and the gardens being planted. I'm sure that has something to do with my interest in flowers and cooking today. But what really got me to thinking was the ad for Virginia Slims cigarettes that always used to run in those magazines my mother would get. The one where it would always show a modern woman with a smoke in hand and the ad saying " You've come along way baby". Wouldn't that apply to all of us today? I know it would me. From being that little boy that always had his nose in a book to the the man I am today. A boy who's now a father. A boy who now doesn't get to read like he used to. "You've come along way baby". Work has replaced play. Instead of worrying about school and passing that tough class now it's bills and my job. When we are young we can't wait to grow up. Then one day you do and that kid you used to be is gone. Vanished. Just someone that you used to know. "You've come along way baby". Have we? I'm gonna promise myself to start going to the library again. I'm gonna order a couple magazine subscriptions. I'm gonna try to contact that boy I once knew who I haven't seen in so long. I have come along way. And I still have a long way to go.

For the first time in my life, I live alone. I'm single. Divorced after twenty years of marriage. Before I was married I lived with my parents so this is all taking a little getting used to. Correction, a LOT of getting used to. All my life everything I have ever done was done with someone else in mind. Growing up there were five of us kids. Save some for your sister. Hurry, your brother is waiting to use that. Dad needs you. Mom said you better do that NOW. Then comes the big wedding day. Then things just continue as you've been trained your whole life for. Work a little harder so we can get the bigger house. Don't go there because we can't afford it. I better do this so the spouse won't get angry and so on and so on. Then the kids arrive and you basically surrender the rest of your days to everyone else EXCEPT yourself. Now don't get me wrong. I love my family dearly and wouldn't trade a minute of any of it (well, maybe the physical abuse at the hands of my two older brothers haha) but you understand what I'm saying? Now, my situation is different then anything I have ever known. Its all new territory. The spouse left. The kids are with her during the time that they are in school. My family members are a thousand miles away. So just imagine going from what most of us have done and known our whole lives to being single and alone. For me, some days are scary. Some days are fun. If I want to see a movie, I go see it. If I don't want to attend a certain event, I don't attend. If there's something I really want, I buy it. On the other hand I gotta make sure the bills are being paid cause its just my income. Get the picture? I think our life is like a book and this is a new chapter. Interesting read. I can't wait to see what happens!

My thoughts on things

Hello there folks. Welcome to my blog. This is my take on things. Current things, old things, memories of things and sometimes just silly things. If you like what you read here post and share your thoughts. If you don't just surf on over to something else and thanks for visiting. Peace!
Ren